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How Frog Hospital got its name

News and commentary by Fred Owens in LaConner, a small town in the Skagit Valley. The story behind the name: There was once a grocery store in a quonset hut, run by Mr. Grobschmidt. Clyde, an old drunk who lived out on the river, thought that Mr. Grobschmidt looked like a frog, so he took to calling the store the "Frog Hospital." Now the quonset hut, Mr. Grobschmidt, and Clyde are all gone -- only this blog survives to carry on the Frog Hospital tradition.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Me and Al Go Fishing

Me and Al Go Fishing

By Fred Owens

I
was thinking of my childhood friend Al Versino. When we were kids he
lived on Elmwood Avenue, two blocks away from us. Al had two younger
brothers, Ken and Larry, and a smothering mom who kept him home a lot.

But
Al's dad was cool. Mr. Versino owned the Bike Shop on Green Bay Road.
It was a sporting goods store with baseball mitts and hockey sticks and
fishing lures, but mainly it was for bikes and the back half of the
store was the repair shop. All the kids went to the bike shop.

Al
himself got to have the best of all kinds of sporting equipment, like a
new baseball glove whenever he wanted one, or super hockey skates.

In
the spring me and Al went smelt fishing at the pier in Lake Michigan,
which was only a mile from our house. Our folks let us go out in the
evening to catch smelt, even if it was a school night. Al had a Coleman
lantern -- from his dad's store of course -- and a smelt net, which was a
small-mesh gill net that entangled the smelt as they came into shore to
spawn on evenings in the spring time.

We could catch a bucket of smelt and bring them home. It was huge fun.

In
high school Al began dating Nancy. She was the first girl in his life,
and then the only girl, because they stayed together and got married
after college. But Al and me weren't hanging out together during those
years.

The last time I saw him, more than twenty
years ago, he had taken over the bike shop from his dad, but Nancy had
left him and his two kids. Al used to have such a bright happy smile,
but when I saw him that time he was unhappy and lonely and I didn't have
much to tell him.

Like I said, that was more than twenty
years ago. Maybe he's happy now. Maybe he has that smile again. I ought
to look him up. The high school we went to -- they would have his
contact information, or he might even still own the bike shop.

It's All His Fault.The Washington Post editors
published a detailed indictment of Republican nominee Donald Trump. I
agree point by point with their assessment of his character and the
danger he presents to our good country.

But they left
out a few things in condemning Trump. It wasn't just Trump that did
this. It was us. It was me. And it was you guys at the Washington Post.

I
find abundant fault among the Democrats and their leaders, and I will
be getting to that. But they will be gathering in Philadelphia in two
days, so first we let can them speak. Let them present their alternative
to the Trump nightmare. I hope they don't blame it all on the
Republicans. I hope a good Catholic boy like Tim Kaine remembers that
old prayer -- mea culpa, mea culpa....

I hope
the Democrats do not present a parade of victims and grievances. Trump
has given success and winning a bad name, but let's take that back from
him. Dear Hillary, tell us how we will win and succeed with you as
President.

Vote Your Conscience. My best
takeaway from Cleveland was Ted Cruz's ringing cry to vote your
conscience. I hope that every living soul in this good country votes
their conscience. Hillary Clinton is too strategic for her own good. She
will plan this republic into a swamp. She cannot be outsmarted, but she
might outsmart herself.

New York Times Headline. "Gunman in Munich Who Killed 9 Had No Terror Ties."

They
searched his wallet. They didn't find the ISIS membership card. It's
kind of like the AAA card many of us carry, with a membership ID number
and expiration date. Only this card is for Islamic terror. But the
gunman didn't have the card, so he is not linked to ISIS.

Why do they still say gunman, shouldn't they be saying gunperson?

Prestigious Schools. Senator
Tim Kaine went to Harvard Law School. As did his wife, as did Barack
Obama and half the Supreme Court. Bill and Hillary Clinton went to Yale
Law School. John Kerry went to Yale. Michelle Obama went to Princeton.

The Democratic party is top heavy with the Ivy League. Do they even know this is a problem?

Schools
like Harvard and Yale teach power, privilege and prestige. Graduates of
these schools believe in their own exceptional talent and in their
right to prevail, because they know better, They're not just folks. The
amazing thing is that Trump, with his billions, can come across like
just folks -- because he's from Queens and he went to a school nobody
heard of.

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